10 Best Brock Lesnar WWE SmackDown Moments

As I'm sure everyone reading is well aware, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar was supposed to clash in a King of the Ring qualifier on the June 10th, 2002 episode of Monday Night Raw. Incensed at having to put the rookie over clean (knowing full well that there would be money in an Austin/Lesnar programme down the line) and generally feeling burned-out and disillusioned with WWE, Austin famously walked out of the company.

He wouldn't return until February 2003 and then, a month later, he'd retire from in-ring competition at WrestleMania XIX. The match with Lesnar was now completely off the table, but 'Sheriff' Steve Austin and Brock would get into it in early 2004 during The Next Big Thing's feud with Raw's Goldberg. Lesnar showed up on Raw one week, dropping The Texas Rattlesnake with an F5. Retaliation was inevitable.

Two weeks after Lesnar's hit and run, Austin showed up on Smackdown. General Manager Paul Heyman enlisted the entire Smackdown locker room to start beating up Austin but they thought the better of it, parting like the Red Sea and allowing Stone Cold to go after his enemy. A short brawl ensued, with Austin throwing Lesnar into the ring post and nailing Heyman with a Stunner.

Brock almost ate a Stunner too, but managed to slither away just in time. At the time, it seemed odd to give so much focus to a retired wrestler and a man who was leaving the company in a few days time, but looking at it through 2016 eyes, it's the closest we got to Austin versus Lesnar and a real 'one time only' deal so, for that, it makes the cut of awesome Lesnar on Smackdown moments.